a better country than i thought it was and i really did think it was a wonderful country before any of this happened. wour. that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. two big stories tonight. first, president obama takes a tough stand over tacks. he delivered a wake-up call to republicans that he is determined to make the wealthy pay their fair share in tacks. the other big story, director david and after being married for and petraeus and unacceptable both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.

this afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation. general petraeus was the most accepted leader of his generation. he's been top commander of both wars in iraq and afghanistan. president obama nominated him as the director of the cia last year. his fall is a major challenge for the president just three days after the election and a shake-up to the security team just as he deals with the attacks in libya, tensions with iran and the end of the war in afghanistan. joining me now is nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel, jack jacobs, an msnbc policy analyst and carl bernstein, the legendary analyst now a contributor to the daily

beast. thank you all for joining me tonight. >> good to be here. >> let me start with you, be richard. this is a real shock. i mean, late this afternoon, the news came out. what can you tell us? >> what we know so far and what we've been able to confirm from multiple sources is clearly that the cia director resigned. he made that announcement and cited an extramarital affair. denot, he did not, however, say who may have been involved. what we also know from law enforcement officials is that the fbi is currently investigating paula who has written a become on general petraeus, a favorable account of general petraeus. she talks about having extensive access to the general. they've gone running together, according to her accounts, she's appeared many times on television programs, including on msnbc. the fbi investigation is

focusing on whether she had improper access to general petraeus' e-mails and may potentially have looked at classified information. we have also been told that it doesn't appear that any charges are going to be filed. this doesn't appear that it's going to be some sort of imprisonment and that general petraeus himself is not being investigated in this. >> but we don't know if there's an investigation between the resignation and -- >> at this point we can't definitively talk about a connection between those two things. >> let me ask you, colonel jacobs, you've known general petraeus for years. what kind of person is he and what do you think this -- what it does to him and his wife? >> i know -- >> and the family? >> i taught international relations and pair tif politics at west point when general

petraeus was a cadet. i knew his wife then, too. she was the daughter of the superintendent of the military academy at the time. petraeus was a cadet there, general nolton. so i've known both of them for nearly 40 years. and absolutely brilliant man. he was a fantastic student. very, very perceptive, extremely articulate both in writing and speaking. and it wasn't a surprise that he grew to the top ranks of the united states army. 100% reliable person as a military officer was wounded in a terrible training accident, shot in the chest. it's really -- he was -- he almost died and managed to survive. did spectacularly well later as a higher ranking officer. the kind of reliable person other general officers would go to to get guidance and the interesting thing about this and what makes it all so sad is that

it makes his fall that much more precipitous, is that the expectations of somebody like that are so high that any time anything happens, especially something like this, it's really, really catastrophic. >> carl, let me ask you this. ph.d. from princeton, top commander in iraq, in afghanistan, rewrote counter insurgency field manual, a man of great respect and clearly a man that was considered the military hero of his generation, what will this do politically to the president? how will this affect the president? this is three days after his election, shakes up his team. he's dealing with foreign threats and petraeus absolutely want one of the key figures there. what does this mean politically? >> well two, things. the president's recognition of

his resignation was appropriately low key and this is a personal matter in terms of the family of the general. meanwhile, the lunatic right -- i don't know how else to put it -- is already filled with posts all over the internet that this is somehow part of a conspiracy to keep general petraeus from testifying on capitol hill later this week where he's scheduled to be -- >> he's scheduled there for next thursday. >> for the center of intelligence agency. >> of benghazi. it's one more indication of how poisonous one aspect of our politics are, particularly coming from the right, to think that this event is part of some grand conspiracy that the obama administration has dreamed up to keep the truth from coming out about benghazi. this is a soldier, a great

accomplishment, it's a sad event and at the same time whenever somebody in a national security position like that who has not only access to classified information but who literally sits astride all of our secrets, and someone known to him is trying to get into his computer, obviously you have to resign. >> richard, this is a very sensitive testimony, not only for petraeus or but for the whole question of benghazi. this is a very trouble some spot for this administration. >> the whole benghazi -- the administration has struggled with. they haven't been able to put behind them and just going back to the point that you were just making, there doesn't appear, at this stage, any indication that the investigation into paula broadwell was an investigation that she may have been combing for secrets or anything like that. they said that there's no indication that would lead to

that, that it was a spying or patrol for national security information. but benghazi is something that they had not been able to go behind. there have been missteps in the way that they are handling it, how it was called a terrorist attack later but classified as a spontaneous event. they did seem to fall on their explanation quite a few times but that is also understandable. >> carl, when you talk about the conspiracy theorists and those floating out things from the right, they are saying that because he was scheduled to go before the senate intelligence committee next thursday, this comes out and then you have the other side saying that maybe somebody set him up and exposed this to stop it. >> i don't know if anybody said anything about setting him up. i read a couple pieces quickly online. >> not set up the affair but exposed the affair. >> to suggest that this is being used by the white house to keep the truth from coming out on benghazi. look, obviously there needs to

be a real investigation. nonpoliticized about what happened in benghazi and hopefully we are going to get it. >> just because he resigned doesn't mean that the house and senate can't drag him before it and grill him with questions and he's going to tell the truth. >> so he can be called even though he's not -- >> absolutely. they can call you and me if they want my opinion or your opinion. i'll be astonished if they don't ask him to come testify. and if they don't, then they are probably missing the boat anyway. >> going back to his pog, he is so highly respected in the military. general petraeus is the only person i've seen soldiers, just average soldiers wait in line for an hour or two to take a picture with him, his coin -- he hands a lot of coins, is the most valuable for soldiers. >> i've got to leave it there. thank you for your time tonight. coming up, the president as

you've never seen him before. emotional, unguarded. an inside look at barack obama the man as he thanks his staff after that historic victory. >> you guys, the work that i'm doing and i'm really product of that. i'm really proud of you and -- [ applause ] uct of that. i'm really proud of you and -- [ applause ] one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

. have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? today everyone was touched by the photo of the president like we've rarely seen him, tearing up as he thanked his campaign staff. early said, these are tears of joy. some things cannot be put into words.

gilbert added, quote, these are the tears of someone who knows where he came from. we'll have much more on the president's emotional reaction later in the show. but, first, we want to hear what you think. please head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and "like" us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. welcome aboard! [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $199 per month lease on a 2013 nissan altima. ♪ to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs

without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ today in his first public remarks after his historic election, president obama sent a shock message to republicans who didn't listen for tuesday's results. he ran on raising taxes on those at the very top and the american

people supported that stance and not rush limbaugh, speaker boehner should stand in the way. either they get in line or they can get run over and judging by the resounding welcome he got, the president got a lot of wind at his back. >> the president and vice president of the united states. [cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you very much. >> the support for the president's economic ideas extend far beyond that room. americans need a balance solution to our fiscal problems,

not the one-sidedness that the gop is pushing. >> on tuesday night, we found out that the majority of americans agree with my approach and that includes democrats, independents, and a lot of republicans across the country as well as independent economists and budget experts. that's how you reduce the deficit, with a balanced approach. i want to be clear, i'm not we hadded to every detail of my plan. i'm open to compromise. i'm open to new ideas. i'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges. but i refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced. i am not going to ask student and seniors and middle class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me, making over $250 thou,000, aren asked to pay a dime more in taxes. i'm not going to do that. >> he won't do that. but he won't compromise when it

come to the middle class. they need security right now. >> so let's not wait. even as we're negotiating a broader deficit reduction package, let's extend the middle class tax cuts right now. let's do that right now. in fact, the senate has already passed a bill doing exactly this. so all we need is action from the house. and i've got the pen ready to sign the bill right away. i'm ready to do it. i'm ready to do it. >> he's got the pen and he's got the weight of the american people behind him in this debate. joining me now is krystal ball, co-host of "the cycle" on msnbc and e.j. dionne, an msnbc contributor. thank you both for being here. >> thanks, reverend. >> good to be with you. >> krystal, let me start with

you. what did you make of the president's speech today? >> i think the overall message is, i'm willing and ready to work with anyone who is ready and reasonable but i'm not going to be run over and there's certain principles i'm not willing to compromise on. you played the clip of him saying, let's extend the class cuts for the middle class, for everyone up to the top 2%, let's do that right now. and i think that makes a lot of sense both in terms of what the american people think and also politically. you know, it doesn't -- there is no argument that republicans can make against doing that. we all agree ongoing ahead and extending the bush tax cuts up to $250,000 and then let's work out the rest down the road. of course, they won't do that because then it looks so bad if they are just arguing for keeping tax rates low on the wealthiest individuals in the country. >> now, e.j., speaker bone, it

was interesting today, he asked go the gop is still behaving why they think they had a mandate not to raise taxes on tuesday. listen to what speaker boehner said. >> object cowsly the president won re-election. republicans were basically unable to get a seat in the senate. more people voted for republicans than democrats. why do you have leverage? >> the people re-elected a republican majority and i'm proud of the fact that our team in a very difficult year was able to maintain our majority. >> now, e.j., voters spoke at the polls on tuesday and according to exit polls, they want taxes to be raised to help deal without fiscal problems. 60% say, yes, they should be raised. only 35% say taxes should not be raised. e.j., are we looking for a battle between the republicans

and the president on this? or are they going to the -- are the republicans going to have to blink at some point ? >> well, i think they are going to have to blink at some point but we may have to go over the cliff or as i see it it's not really a cliff. it's a slow incline or a hill. because all of the world doesn't have end on january 2nd. all the leverage is with president obama and it was really fascinating to watch him today compared to where he was on the debt ceiling fight a year and a half ago. two big differences. one is, back then, he was genuinely afraid that the republicans weren't going to pass the debt ceiling and he ended up making quite a few concessions. and now, if nothing happens, all the tax -- all the clinton tax rates come back and so he can just say, you know, i'm going to veto anything that just continues it all and it won't get through the senate anyway and he's got the election. you're right to show that

number. you know, the president claim's mandate that they don't have but in this case, if there was anything the president was clear about, he said it over and over and over again, is that he wanted to raise taxes on better off people a little bit as part of a budget deal and the exit polls show that the country is with him on this. two-thirds of his own supporters want to raise taxes on people raising -- earning over $250 thou $,000 a year. >> but do the republicans get that or are they just bluffing? >> i think boehner is in a tough spot. he gets that but he has a caucus that doesn't want to pass any tax increase. i think he's also a smart enough politician to know that it looks real bad after a while to say, i'm not going to extend it for middle income people because i'm just holding out for the rich. and, you know, boehner is a lot of things but one of the things he is is basically a smart politician. i think he knows that's a bad position but he's got a caucus

that's not going to make it easy for him. >> and krystal, you have people saying don't deal with him. paul krugman is saying, let's not make a deal. but at some point, he, being boehner, it's hard to sell that we're not going to give a tax cut to the middle class unless the rich gets it, too? isn't he running up against a political clock here? >> yes, it's a very tough position. voters went to the polls and said they don't buy that position and as e.j. pointed out, the president has tons of leverage here because if nothing happens, all of the bush tax cuts expire and exhibit plain that the reason taxes are set to go up is because republicans held them hostage to make sure they got tax breaks for rich people. another interesting thing from the exit polls is if you looked at who voters thought barack obama's economic policies would help, there were many people who thought it was going to be the middle class or the poor.

for mitt romney, be overwhelmingly, people thought his policies would favor the rich. people already fill this way about the republican party but their policies are not designed to help the middle class. they are designed to help people who have already done well. >> now, the president also made it very clear that the american people wanted consensus on this. listen to this. >> the american people are looking for cooperation. they are looking for a consensus. they are looking for commonsense. most of all, they want action. i intend to deliver for them in my second term and i expect to find willing partners in both parties to make that happen. so let's get to work. >> now, he's using the momentum of his re-election and reach out and have cooperation and consensus. little different, e.j., and krystal from the first

appearance that george bush made after he was re-elected in 2004. watch this. >> i gained political capital and now i intend to spend it. it's my style. it's what happened after the 2000 election. there is capital in this election and i'm going to spend it. >> a little different than attitude and demeanor, wouldn't you say, e.j.? >> it is quite different and president obama ended up spending his capital on exotic instruments and privatizing security and it didn't work out so well. >> again, that's where i think the difference is. obama wasn't claiming a big mandate. he was just saying, we had a big argument on this particular thing and also said something else today that i thought was important. washington is obsessed with the deficit but the deficit wasn't the first issue that he talked about. the first issue he talked about was creating jobs and the programs that he wants to push through for job training and

community colleges and the like to help raise people's income and, again, i think that's very true to the constituency that elected him that, yes, people want the long-term fiscal problem solved but right now they are still interested in making sure this economy keeps moving forward. and, again, without claiming he has political capital, that's an issue where i think he's aligned not only with his own constituency but with a lot of other people, too. >> even in victory he reaches for consensus, chris. >> that's absolutely right. and he has gone above and beyond, no matter what the republicans say, he tried so hard to get republicans on board with health care to work with him time and time again and they just rebuffed him from the beginning. we'll see if they behaved this time around. >> we'll see. thank you for your time tonight. have a great weekend. >> thanks, you too. >> be sure to catch krystal weekdays at 3:00 p.m. on msnbc. coming up, three days after

his on-air meltdown, karl rove still can't accept losing. you will not believe what he is saying now. governor chris christie is giving the party a harsh dose of reality. today we'll tell you why an e-mail he sent is making news. and president obama as you've never seen him before. what his emotional speech to staffers reveal about him. you're watching "politicsnation" on the place for politics. msnbc. [ male announcer ] what are happy kids made of?

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three days later and the republican party is in full crack-up mode. they are finding lot of excuses for why things went wrong. they say hurricane sandy caused romney momentum. they say conservatives never liked romney. but this one takes the cake. former political guru, karl rove, says president obama suppressed the vote. amazing. but who's delivering those harsh doses of reality? none other than chris christie. here's what he told reporters when they asked him if he talked to president obama about his big election victory. >> we didn't have a political strategy discussion. i said congratulations on your win, mr. president, and he said thank you, governor, and then we

went on to business. >> now, we know chris and the president have been in regular contact, coordinating storm relief. still, it's very nice that christie congratulated the president by phone. but did he give romney a call maybe a shoulder to cry on? >> we sent e-mails to each other yesterday afternoon but we have not spoken but we exchanged e-mails yesterday. >> they exchanged e-mails? the man that romney chose to give the keynote address at the republican national convention has only been in touch by e-mail? ouch. i guess that's springsteen call went a long way. but the rest of the gop hasn't moved on as quickly. we'll have a lot more on the gop crisis next.

all this week we've been watching the republicans deal

with their crushing loss on election night. they are going through all of the classic stages of grief. first is denial. we saw it start while voting was still under way. >> do you believe that ohio has been settled? >> no, i don't. i think this is premature. >> the idea that we have to become more moderate to win a national election, that's a pig in a pope. >> the gop future is quite bright? really? they must be blinded by the right. after denial came anger. they lashed out after the loss. >> he succeeded by depressing the vote. >> there are 50% of the voting public who want stuff. they want things. and who is going to give them things? president obama. >> the party of free stuff, they are the party of santa. >> the party of santa. ho, ho, ho.

looks like you have some coal in your stocking, rush. next came depression. as the grim reality of their defeat sunk in. >> if mitt romney cannot win in this economy, then the tipping point has been reached. we have more takers than makers and it's over. there is no hope. >> there is no hope? don't worry miss coulter. there is hope and change. but the final stage of grieving is the only one the gop hasn't gone through yet. acceptance. and they are having a lot of trouble with it. joining me now is abby huntsman, host and producer of hunts post live and dana milbank. thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> abby, you tweeted the morning after the election, quote, gop soul-searching begins, too old, too white, too male.

will the republican party evolve? >> what you're seeing right now is a state of shock. the republican party is really going through the healing process. so that's why you're seeing the finger pointing, a lot of angry people as they well should be. a lot of them feel duped like they were tricked into believing that romney could win this thing by a landslide and then reality starts to set in in this whole healing process and you take a step back and say, look, the republican party hasn't won the popular vote since 1988. if that's not a signal that the party needs to make some changes, i don't know what is. what can they do as a party to really learn from the party leaders, such as lincoln, roosevelt, reagan that were all about big, bold ideas that were about bringing people together to really come up with solutions to solve some of the nation's greatest problems and i really hoped that the party moves in that direction because, frankly,

i don't know how much further right the party can go. >> you know, dana, in your article today in "the washington post," you touched on that exact point and that exact topic. let me quote from your article. before arriving at acceptance, republicans must go through another stage of grief, an extended period of finger pointing known as the rediscrimination phase. only after period of excuses is it possible to arrive at the plain truth of the matter, the electorate wasn't buying what they were selling. >> well, that is the very sad situation that the party finds itself in. now, reverend, to some extent this happens, be there's always this round of recrimination. they are literally blaming the weather, hurricane sandy. somebody came out and said,

well, it's because the people are doing our get out to vote effort wore blue hair. they are too old. they are blaming todd akin, the romney staff. basically, they are blaming everything but the actual thing that is to blame for this and that is that the party has become this white male coalition that's largely based in the south. you can't win elections that way so they've got to get through all of this fingerpointing until they can address that larger problem. >> abby, let me ask you this. you're a daughter of a very important republican leader in the country. as i listen to you and read some of what you've been saying, it seems a little deeper than policy to you. is this personal? do you feel that they have put some damage or bad light on a party that you've grown and believe can be better and that you've gron up in?

>> you know, i think the party -- this is very natural for the political cycle to see the party go back and forth like this. i look at someone like my dad who stayed true to who he was during the primary season. he stayed authentic. and that's the challenge. they are polled so far to the right and then to the center and it causes people to look at them as a flip-flopper. so i think moving forward the party is going to have to realize that in order to win again, in order to win the popular vote, which they haven't been able to do, is to open up the tent and to bring in the key groups that we're seeing get out to vote more than ever before. the older white men are not getting out to vote like they expected this last time. so you really need to open the doors to latinos, to women, and to the youth because that's really what is going to win you a general election. >> now, dana, you know, they have gone back and forward and john boehner has said something

that is more striking. he's almost acting like the tea party doesn't exist. let me show you what he said about when he was questioning about the tea party. >> we don't have a tea party caucus toll speak of in the house. all of us elected in 2010 were supported by the tea party. these are ordinary americans who have taken a more active role in their government. they want solutions. we've all come a long way over the last two years. i think we all understand each other a lot better. >> dana, i mean, clearly the tea party raised a lot of pressure, raised a lot of the attention and energy in 2010 that elected announced members of that party in the republican party as the new members of congress. >> sure, there's something about what the speaker says there that is accurate in the sense that there really is no distinction anymore. there's not some separate tea

party caucus. that's really the problem that the speaker is dealing with. he's starting to make some noise about striking a deal. he's going to get a whole earful from his caucus, 75, 85% of whom are of the -- you know, the no compromise variety. they are not going to let them do this. he's got the toughest job in washington right now and i think we should be praying for him. >> be aly, the challenges that -- there are those like your father that stay true to themselves, whether i agree or not is not the point -- and there are those that are more mature and moderate and that could be very competitive maybe in general elections but they can't get through a primary if this climate remains the same in republican primary. isn't that really the challenge? >> that is a challenge and i

would think that you would find that that's a challenge for democrats. this time around we didn't have an incumbent that was running on the left. in four years you will see a challenge for both sides. from what we saw this last time, it was such a looney time. you have to not be an idealog. you need someone that is actually going to win at the end of the day. you may not agree with them on some of the social issues but i think that the party needs to get past some of that in order to be competitive. >> abby huntsman and dana milbank, thanks for your time and have a great weekend, the both of. >> you thank you, reverend. ahead, what president obama's emotional speech reveals about what really motivates him. and three days ago president

obama won but today voter rights are under a very real attack. the supreme court's major announcement today is a cause for action. stay with us. hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. now get a $199 per month lease on a 2013 nissan altima. ♪ he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees.

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today the obama campaign released a video from the day after the election of the president thanking campaign workers at the chicago headquarters. take a look at this extraordinary video. >> ladies and gentlemen, the re-elect president of the united states. [cheers and applause ] >> you guys -- i -- you know, i tried to pinch myself when i was your age and i first moved to chicago at the age of 25 and i had this big inkling about making a different. i didn't really know how to do it. i didn't have a structure. and there wasn't a presidential campaign that i could attach

myself to and i ended up being the organizer on the south side of chicago at a church that was willing to hire me and i didn't know what i was doing. and, you know, the work that i did in those communities changed me much more than i changed the communities because it taught me the hopes and aspirations of the resilience of ordinary people and it taught me the fact that under the surface differences, we all have common hopes and we all have common dreams and it taught me something about how i handle disappointment and what it meant to work hard on a common endeavor and i grew up, be i became a man during that process. and so when i come here and i look at all of you, what comes to mind is not that you guys actually remind me of myself. it's the fact that you are so much better than i was in so

many ways. you are smarter than i am, you -- you are more effective and so i'm absolutely confident that all of you are going to do just amazing things in your lives and that's why even before last night's results, i felt that the work that i had done in running for office had come full circle because the work that i'm doing and i'm really proud of that. i'm really proud of all of you.

and -- [cheers and applause ] >> what you guys have accomplished will go on in history and people will read about it and marvel about it but the most important thing you need to know is that your journey's just beginning. you're just starting and whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come. and that's been my source of hope. that's why i don't want the last four years -- when people ask me about, you know, how do you put up with this or that, the frustrations of washington. you know, i just think about you. i think about what you guys are going to do and that's the source of my hope. that's the source of my strength and my inspiration and i know

that you guys won't disappoint me because i've already seen who you guys are and you all are remarkable people and you've lifted me up, each and every step of the way. >> all right, mr. president. >> thank you, guys. >> jonathan, jonathon alter, we've never seen a president like that. >> that was a very unusual event. i was in the headquarters during that event and part of the day before. i missed that, and that wanted it to be just for staff. they didn't expect it to be released at all, it wasn't professionally shot. only late yesterday or today did they decide that they were going to go public with this because this is the real barack obama. this was a private moment with

people who are fulfilling his earliest i'd legal list stick ambitions. this is a guy who went to an ivy league college and instead of trying to make a lot of money, he expressed his idealism, his hope for a better world by becoming a community organizer. and what this shows, rev, is, this is who barack obama really is. >> exactly. he went to the most impoverished low income housing in chicago and you've covered president obama for many years. he went there when he could have gone to a white shoe law firm given his ivy league background. >> right. when i met him in the state senate, he was trying to use politics to further some of the things that he had started when

he was working and so what he's saying to these folks is you don't have to go into politics but to believe in something larger than one's own interest and in another part of the video he talks about robert f. kennedy and the ripples that are created in a pool when you just throw in one stone and his ability to inspire other people, to not just get him re-elected but to make improvements in their own communities. >> that's what struck me. that's what struck me. he talked more about them, those young people, those volunteers, those people who worked in his campaign and he talked about himself. he just talked about himself as a way to have them address themselves. i think that's what struck me more than anything. >> right after he became president in late 2008, he said to friends, why did i want to do this? it's so that a young, black kid but also people of all races, all background who just want to

make a difference, can have some hope that they can and that they can succeed and do something not just for them selves but for other people. he saw his career, as he said, full circle back to when he was a community organizer. and then later he registered 100,000 voters in 1992 in chicago. so the kind of work that they did to re-elect him as president and elect him the first time, this was a direct outgrowth of what he was all about. >> all of his life, yeah. >> yeah. >> amazing speech, amazing time. jonathan alter, we've never seen a president like that. thanks. have a grade weekend. >> you, too. >> we'll be right back.

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obama celebrated a big win. today, cold reality. the supreme court announcing it will hear a challenge to a key part of the voting rights act. that part requiring states and counties with a history of discriminating against minority voters to get clearance from the justice department before changing election rules. wanting to get that overturned, some conservative justices have signaled they may be open to striking that provision. a ruling against the justice department could lead to more voter suppression. we can't let this happen. we will be watching this case closely. we've come too far to start now. we've fought to protect voting rights and women's rights and immigration rights. we need those rights in place until they are no longer ness